Estes Park Opinion

Residents stand up and do right thing for town's future

Many things have been said over the years about how Estes Park residents vote - a lot of it not very flattering.

In general, it has been suggested that Estes Park residents only get out to vote when something has an immediate impact on them.

And, a vote to support a tax increase? Forget it. Won't happen.

Well, that certainly wasn't the case on Tuesday.

Estes Park residents voted in big numbers and did so that left no doubt in anyone's mind that they had studied the issues, knew the facts, and voted not only for themselves but for future generations.

In short, they voted to approve a 1-cent sales tax to improve roads, trails, purchase necessary emergency equipment, and provide seed money for a community recreation/senior center.

But, they also saw the need to support year-round businesses by approving the sale of land near the Stanley Hotel as a site for the proposed $15 million Estes Park Medical Center/Anschutz Wellness Training Center.

Tuesday was truly a historic day for the community - for the present and the future. And, we owe it to an informed and motivated electorate.

Estes Park, let's seize the moment, unite and continue to work together to better develop our economy, improve our schools, and remain committed to the quality of life Estes provides with its beauty and open space.

Thank you, the residents of Estes Park, for caring about your community and its future.

District did good job of finding new superintendent

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The Estes Park School Board has announced the hiring of Sheldon Rosenkrance as its new superintendent.

The hiring became official late Wednesday. A contract is expected to be negotiated and signed within the next couple weeks.

We like Rosenkrance and believe he will do a great job here.

Hiring a superintendent is an arduous process. It takes a lot of time to go through the list of candidates and weed out the "pretenders" from the "contenders."

The school board used a consultant recommended by the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) to help advertise the job. The board then took the candidates list and narrowed it to eight, then four, and then to two.

Eventually, Rosenkrance was the choice, one we totally support.

The process, however, wasn't without a little drama.

One of the final two candidates was Joni Burgin, a superintendent from Grantsburg, Wis. Burgin, while an outstanding candidate, had been involved in a creationism controversy in 2004.

That topic, while very important to the board, never came up during the Skype interview with Burgin last Saturday, leading many residents to believe the board was unaware.

"We totally knew," said board president, Dr. Marie Richardson. "It just never came up during that interview. That was something we definitely wanted to talk to her about and were going to when she came out here."

However, that trip to Estes Park was canceled as Burgin withdrew her candidacy late Monday.

We applaud the board for the hiring of Rosenkrance and for being diligent enough to check into the background of all finalists.